Bradley / 2 Senator Smith

S.W._____

A BILL
To provide increased funding to enhance the United States Navy fleet.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Navy Expansion Act of 2017.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
The U.S. fleet is less than half its size at the close of the Reagan administration nearly 30 years ago.
The Navyafter nearly $1 trillion of Defense Department cuts, in part mandated by the 2011 budget-sequestration
deal between Congress and the Obama administrationis already down to 272 ships.
About 70% of our planet is covered by water; 80% of the earths population lives within an hours drive to the sea;
90% of global trade is seaborne; and 95% of voice and data are carried via undersea cables.
On Sept. 11, 2001, our fleet stood at 316 ships. Fewer than eight years later, despite one of the great military
build-ups in American history, the fleet had declined to 278 ships.
The militaries of China, India, South Korea, and Japan are modernizing, and Russia has maintained and subsidized
its military research-and- development base by selling weapons to China and others.
Today, the United States devotes 4.38 percent of its annual gross domestic product to defense. Before the Iraq War,
it was 3.5 percent.
China is pursuing a missile-centric strategy with the purpose of holding U.S. aircraft carriers at high risk if they
operate in Chinas near seas and thereby hinder their access to those waters in the event of a crisis.
Chinas projected defense spending for 2014 is cited at $131 billion, approximately 12.2 percent greater than 2013.
The Russians are building a number of stealthy hybrid diesel-electric submarines and deploying them.

Either by formal treaty, presidential declaration or executive agreement the US is committed to provide
military support to more than 40 nations throughout the world.
China announced a double-digit increase in military spending Sunday, a rise that comes amid an
intensifying strategic rivalry between the United States and China in Asia and concerns in Washington
about the secrecy surrounding the Chinese defense budget.
The 8 percent fall in U.S. military spending in 2013 resulted in a two percentage point fall in the global
share, as military spending by the rest of the world increased 2 percent.
In 2012, U.S. military spending fell faster than overall military spending by democracies.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Navy Expansion Act of 2017 shall increase United States military funding to the Naval branch in order to
strengthen American military power and the general American public safety by limiting foreign threat. The
designated federal Naval spending shall be increased by 2.5% of its current budget designated by the United Stated
Department of Defense ($161.0 billion) beginning at the start of the fiscal year of 2017. This 2.5% increase shall be
continued through the fiscal year of 2035.
B) This increase in funding for the Navy Expansion Act of 2017 will be provided by removing federal funds towards
other financial divisions such as Housing and Communities and International Affairs and redistributing the allocated
amount of funding from these divisions to satisfy the need and intent of this bill. This reform will be administered by
the Department of Defense by manipulating the designated federal funding for the military and how it is dispersed
amongst the five branches. This bill shall be enforced by the authority of the federal government as soon as officially
enacted by the power of Congress or the President of the United States. this provision is unaffected by any
conflicting federal law whatsoever.
C) The Navy Expansion Act of 2017 shall be enacted on January 1, 2017. Federal military spending to the Navy shall
hereby be increased by 2.5 percent of the previous years budget every year through the end of the fiscal year of
2035. At this point, this bill shall be reevaluated for effectiveness and amended as needed.